The crafty side in almost everyone comes out at Christmas. People who spend most of the year non-crafting suddenly get an appreciation for the handmade.

Maybe it’s due to the number of winter craft fairs that prop up? Or childhood nostalgia? Whatever the reason, for those of us who already craft, Christmas is officially the time to indulge in even more creative DIY than usual.

So, I’m back in London after completing my two-month apprenticeship in weaving. There is so much I want to share about it: the location, inspiration, teaching, beautiful yarns I used, and of course everything I learned, but I‘m sworn to secrecy! The course was filmed for a new BBC2 craft TV series and until it’s aired next year (hopefully in the spring) my lips are sealed. So I’m skipping a few weeks and fast-forwarding to today.

I’m pulling together the winter issue of the craftzine I edit. Unfortunately lots of contributors, including the cover designer have pulled out so I’m a bit behind, but I still hope to get it printed in time to be a stocking filler.

Visiting the winter wonderland at a local school. Next on my ‘to do’ list is to sort out prezzies. When you’re a maker, there are no excuses not to give hand made presents. I can’t even bring myself to walk into a card shop without feeling ‘guilt’.

The trouble is I’m out of inspiration. I feel as though I’ve made a lifetime worth of Xmas cards already. I turned to the online craft community for help and tracked down some advice from other craftfanatics to find out how they are tackling the crafty demands of this year’s Crimbo.

Cards

The Guardian’s Perri Lewis has written a guide on how to make ‘acceptable Xmas cards’ (i.e. not ones that look like a five year old made them).

They include banning glitter, using good quality paper and swapping traditional red and green colour schemes for purple, navy and gold.

Decorations

My fave winter fashion accessory this season is a gorgeous pom pom scarf in Accessorize. It looks fabulous, but again I feel guilty buying it as clearly I should make my own. I tried, and I gave up. I forgot how time-consuming it is to make pom pom. It took me 45 minutes to wind just one. I’m hoping to buy the scarf if it’s still around in the sales. However, if you can spare the time, pom poms also make fabulous Christmas decorations, as featured in Craft magazine.

Recycle your egg boxes. If the child in you is really desperate to get out, then turn to the faithful egg box: the original of all recycled craft materials. Last weekend I ran a Christmas Xmas egg box recycling workshop. In recent years the egg box was frowned upon as some ‘health and safety’ experts thought it was too dangerous for children to use them as they may contain remnants of eggs – even Blue Peter banned them. Luckily there was a U-turn, and they are back on the menu.

Gifts

If you fancy a bit of ‘make do and mend’, you could give last year’s tree lights a new twist by turning them into a spiky brooch.

Last year I made pomanders, a traditional Victorian gift, by piercing cloves into oranges. They smelt amazing while they lasted, but mine didn’t seem to dry out properly and moulded instead. Apparently they work just as well by swapping oranges for lemons or limes so I may give that a go. 

Food

The classic food craft of the season is the gingerbread house. I’ve yet to try building one but last year I listened to a brilliant podcast about the subject, which you can find via the Gingerbread Snowflakes website.

Chocoholics will always appreciate a Yule log. There are infinite recipes out there but I’m recommending one recipe that amuses me the most as the chef apparently bakes over 1000 a year.

Festive traditions

From egg box to tree top, jazz up your fairy lights on a budget Maybe this suggestion is too extreme but at least you can weed out the bad jokes. It really is possible to make your own crackers. I’ve recently found out about the origin of crackers: they arrived in the UK in the 17th century and it took one man, Tom Smith, 40 years to get them to pop. Now that’s dedication in the name of craft!

Hopefully it’s not too late to undertake some of the above tasks, as there’s still a couple of weeks to go, (though admittedly there’s also a fair few parties inbetween too.)

Next blog, I’ll be doing my end of year craft round up; celebrating the highs and lows; the successes and disasters and I’ll also be setting out my plans for the New Year. Until then, have a super sparkly, Craftastic holiday.